Despite all the noise and enthusiam for blogging, senior execs are still not “getting” corporate blogging, according to a new Harris Interactive survey.

…only minorities of top executives surveyed are convinced to “a great extent” that corporate blogging is growing in credibility either as a communications medium (5%), brand-building technique (3%), or a sales or lead generation tool (less than 1%). In contrast, most executives are somewhat or not at all convinced of blogs’ growing credibility in these areas, (62%, 74%, and 70% respectively).

It’s interesting that only 15% of those polled actually have a corporate blog – so the stats above would be similar to someone saying they don’t like “Coke” without actually tasting it.

Could the problem be that of those surveyed, only 30% had a good understanding of what a blog is in the first place?

Garrett puts together different stories that point to a potential merger between Yahoo and Microsoft. Is that the only thing that could tackle Google at this stage?

According to TechWeb, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer is prepared to make “big, bold bets” against it’s competitors, including Google.

He…named Google as the reason behind some of the spending. “Further development of adCenter is key – our goal is to create the web’s largest advertising network, giving us an engine that will enable us to monetise our services and compete against Google.”

He’s going all-in on this bet.

According to ClickZ, you’ll soon be seeing a new wave of Ask.com ads during TV timeouts. The company plans to air ads featuring Apostolos Gerasoulis, executive VP of search technology.

In one, Gerasoulis shows how a search for “pimped out cars” can lead to useful information about custom rims and find sites that use related slang terms like “tight” or “phat” as well.

“Search engines understand text. Ask.com understands concepts,” he says in his heavy Greek accent. “Pimped out cars are related; tight cars are related. Ask.com is a ‘pimped out search engine’; it is very tight,” he says.

Sounds phat!

TW points to a Washington Post article on a recently filed class action lawsuit against Yahoo for click fraud.

The suit claims that Yahoo displayed these advertisers’ online ads via spyware and adware products and on so-called “typosquatter” Web sites that capitalize on misspellings of popular trademarks or company names.

The allegations get worse…

…Yahoo regularly uses its relationship with adware and typosquatting sites to gin up extra revenue around earnings time, alleging that the company is conspiring to boost revenue by partnering with some of the Internet’s seamier characters.

PQ Media has released a study looking at the growth of advertising using blogs, podcasts and RSS.

Combined spending on blog, podcast and RSS advertising bolted 198.4% to $20.4 million in 2005, and is expected to grow another 144.9% to $49.8 million in 2006

Podcast advertising will see the largest growth…

…podcast advertising, nonexistent until 2004, is expected to be a larger market than blog advertising by 2010.

Via Adverblog.

Jason Dowdell, and I, share a common interest, both ex-WebSourced and both starting over with new companies. Seems like neither of us can keep away from blogging either.

Jason sits down with a lawyer involved with the Google Click Fraud Lawsuit and gets some great info.

In a settlement class, such as the one which Google is attempting to enter into, the case is settled on behalf of the entire class. This means that everyone who fits the definition of a class member — whether aware or unaware of the pendency of the lawsuit or the settlement — is included and forever releases the defendant of any liability.

It’s scary to think that unless you opt-out of a class action lawsuit, you are automatically included.